Thorns to Hide a Rose
by Jude Mackenzie
Summary: A so far brief snapshot of the Cullen kids at school shortly before Bella arrives in Forks. Another side to Rosalie...and did the Cullens know about Bella coming before she actually did? Please read and review x


**A/N: I started this because I had an itchy label. God, it was so irritating I couldn't **_**help**_** writing down that first line, and then it suddenly struck me as an oddly Rosalie-like thing to say. So, this turned into a character exploration of Rosalie Hale. I'm not sure where I'm going with it, but please let me know what you think nonetheless.**

**N.B. I couldn't remember whether Bella arrives at the beginning of the term or a little while into it…this story assumes the other students are back at school at least a week before her arrival.**

_**Forks High School, Parking Lot. Wednesday.**_

What the hell had possessed me to wear this bra, today? As if Forks High School wasn't bad enough, with all the ogling little _human_ boys and the twisted teachers leering as if didn't realise that yes, I do have eyes. I can see them, the pervs. Practically hear the cogs of their sick minds turning around as their eyes follow me. Now I had a label sticking into my side, a label that itched and irritated every time I moved –

"Relax, Rose," Emmett murmured in my ear as his arms snaked their way around my slender waist from behind. "Just another school day…"

I leant back into the muscled mass of his body, folding my arms over his wandering fingers. "Behave, Emmett," I ordered him. "We're in public…at school…"

"Never stopped you before," Edward growled irritably.

"What's gotten you in such a mood?" Emmett lifted one eyebrow, ran his hands purposefully across my flat stomach to make Edward scowl and turn away. "Jessica Stanley making eyes at you again already?" He glanced about the parking lot.

"You're lucky," Edward retorted. "You can't hear what they're thinking."

I twisted my head sideways to exchange a long glance with Emmett. Edward _really _needed to get over his irrational girl-fear.

"It's not irrational," my brother told me hotly. "And I'm not _scared_ of them."

"Right." Emmett snorted a laugh as he lowered his mouth to my neck, conveniently exposed, and nibbled his way along the sensitive skin to my collarbone.

"Would you two please grow up?" Edward asked furiously. "And accept that you don't have to deal with my problems?"

"Sure, Edward. We don't have your problems. We've got problems of our own." My breath hitched as Emmett's hand crept higher, pushing me closer into his chest. If only that bloody label wasn't scratching into me –

"Would you _stop_ thinking about your damn bra for just one second, Rosalie," Edward raged suddenly, "then –"

He was cut off by Emmett's sudden chuckle. "Are my ears working correctly?" he rumbled – I could feel his muscles against my back, hard steel flexing and almost melted, forced myself instead to step slightly forward so he wasn't pressed _quite_ so tightly against me – as he twisted to stare at Edward with mock incredulity. "Did my baby brother Edward Cullen just say the word _bra_ in the middle of the student parking lot at Forks High?"

I worship and adore Emmett – not that I'd tell him – but he is an asshole. "Oh, be serious," I scolded him impatiently. "And Edward, no actually, I can't. It's a constant needle in my side."

"Maybe now you can appreciate what it's like hearing Jessica's thoughts, then," he replied exasperatedly. That made me pause. Like a label irritating your side constantly? Ouch. And if we're talking Jessica Stanley – if she's the one I think she is – make that a cheap, low-quality label. I suppressed a shudder.

"Has she actually ever given you an opportunity to turn her down?" I asked reasonably.

"_Yes_. But somehow I don't think she got the hint."

Emmett started to laugh, but my hand flickered out and whacked him solidly in the stomach. "Can't you ignore her?" I suggested.

Edward's eyes met mine condescendingly. "Label, remember?"

"Good point." I frowned.

"Seriously, what's she thinking?" Emmett asked curiously. "It can't be that bad…she doesn't strike me as the imaginative type." Oh, he'd be rewarded for that smouldering look he shot me right then as soon as we got out of this godforsaken school. In about…eight hours. As if he knew what I was thinking, Emmett's hand crept back to my hip, brushed down my thigh.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." If vampires could blush, Edward would be bright red right now. Isn't that boy just the cutest thing?

"You really need to get a life, Edward," Emmett told him disgustedly. "I mean, come on – would it kill you to go out on a date just once? Or you could go through the entire female student body, dump them all and then they'd probably never bother you again." He brightened. "Show them what a total ass you are and they'll never want to date you again."

My eyes met Edward's, and we both sighed simultaneously. _I'm sorry about him,_ I thought. "Remember which of your brothers this is, Emmett," I spoke aloud icily. "Edward I've-never-kissed-a-girl-and-I'm-a-century-old Cullen. That's not going to happen."

"Oh." His shoulders drooped at my reprimand. "Right."

Edward rolled his eyes as he began to head for one of the school buildings. "I'll see you at lunch."

To mend his bruised ego, I turned around to link my arms behind my husband's neck, lips painted in siren-red hovering just a centimetre away from his. "Jesus Christ, that boy," I groaned. "God, I think if he'd fallen for _me_ we still wouldn't have gotten anywhere yet."

"I have every confidence in you, my love," Emmett murmured, straining forward to close that infinitesimal distance between us that was still too much space.

"What makes you think that?" I whispered breathlessly against his seeking lips, leaning back ever so slightly to evade his kiss and press myself against him at the same time so that his arms tightened around me. It was me, whoever, who gasped first as one of Emmett's hands crept underneath the shirt that was the same colour as my lips, slid upwards across sensitive flesh.

"About that bra, Rose…do you want any help with that?" His nose nuzzled against my neck, and I practically purred, the purr turning to a hiss as a finger dipped below the lace at the edge of my bra cup.

"That's not the label, Emmett…and I've got four words for you. Forks' school parking lot."

"What does that have to do with anything?" He captured my mouth before I could reply and I felt myself melt, acutely aware of how one of his massive hands pushed my butt into his hip while the other sent shivers racing through my body as he caressed the lace, detestable in its presence but tantalizingly agonizing all at the same time.

Dammit! Forks' school parking lot!

I broke it off, flicked away his searching kiss by turning my cheek a little. "Jesus, Emmett, are you trying to drive me crazy?"

He grinned then – I weakened enough to let my gaze skin down over those dangerously tempting lips – and stroked his hand down my back in a way that had my knees trembling. "Not really. It's kind of a side effect."

I spread my hands across his abs in retaliation, smugly watching his eyes widen as my fingers drifted lower. "Come on," I told him firmly with a tug to his t-shirt to cover those enticing muscles that tensed in his stomach, "We need to get to class."

"Screw school," he mumbled painfully.

"I wish we could. But you know what Carlisle said about people getting suspicious if we skipped too many classes and then came out on top." His eyes sparkled at that and I added hastily, "Top of the class."

"I hate _people_," my husband moaned, pouting.

He was so _hot_, even when he was being childish. I moulded myself against him, stole a long kiss that would have to hold us both until we got a spare moment later. "Me too," I replied breathlessly – I could never quite understand why, considering how unnecessary oxygen was for us, Emmett's kisses always left me gasping. "Come on. We need to go."

It took Emmett a little longer to follow me, and I allowed a smirk to catch the corners of my mouth as I reapplied that siren-red gloss to my lips. "You'll be the death of me, Rosalie Hale," he complained as we made for the block that held our first class.

I slipped my fingers inside his, even that small bodily contact diminishing the aching void of space between us. "Good job you're already dead then."

_**Canteen. Still Wednesday.**_

"You two should at least _try _to arrive in class on time," Alice told us exasperatedly when we slid our entirely unnecessary trays onto the table where we customarily sat. Another lunch time of sitting in the noisy canteen surrounded by the smells of human food, human bodies…ugh. They really were rather disgusting. I glanced at the food on my tray; as if I'd ever actually eat a hamburger, but it was the last one and the kid behind me was the fat spot-faced girl whose friends always mocked her.

I covered my thoughts before Edward could pick up on what I'd done; if my family chose to think I was selfishly shallow all the time, why change their opinion now?

"Rose, did you have to take the last burger?" Alice asked me, annoyed. "You're obviously not going to eat it, so couldn't you have left it for someone else?"

"No," I replied icily, "I couldn't." Emmett's hand found mine under the table, and I met his knowing gaze with surprise. Dammit, half the time that boy understood me better than I wanted him to. "Why should we arrive in class on time anyway?" I steered the conversation back to its previous topic. "It's not like we're going to miss anything. Or get tardies." Teachers _never_ gave Rosalie Hale tardies.

"For God's sake, Rose." Alice's voice was so low none of the humans would have even known she was talking unless they saw the irritation flaring in her eyes. "You can't spend half your life making out with Emmett in the school parking lot. The teachers are considering complaining that Carlisle and Esme are _unfit parents_ for letting you two be together."

That hit a nerve. "Actually we were talking about Edward and Jessica," Emmett replied hotly before I could say anything. Well, it was halfway to the truth, anyway.

"Edward and Jessica?" Jasper grimaced. "God, you guys are sicker than I thought."

"Not like _that_." Edward slipped in quietly beside us. "We were discussing how irritating she is." He cast me a pained glance, but it was Emmett who grinned and held up a small piece of material with childlike pride. _The label…_

Alice sighed loudly; I smiled coolly, and Emmett grinned. Jasper winced as Edward buried his face in his hands. "We might have changed topics after we finished talking about Edward," I admitted calmly.

"So, what's the school gossiping about today?" Jasper distracted his tiny wife with the question. Her face brightened. Alice plus gossip equals smiles. The only equation I'll ever need to get out of trouble.

"Usual stuff, really…and then they'll all going on about Chief Swan's daughter, who's arriving next week."

I felt a sudden, startling surge of fury. Even aging, rumpled police chief Charlie Swan could procreate; his wife had left him and yet he still had the one thing I'd always wanted. Edward shot me a look of pity which only served to infuriate me, so I pictured Emmett in as compromising a position as I could. He winced and turned away, _prudish do-gooder_.

Alice, oddly oblivious – or maybe she was just trying to irritate me – carried on blithely. "New girl in town…we won't be the newbies any more."

"Poor kid," Emmett chuckled. "It's been two years since _we _arrived and we're still the new people. I doubt anybody else is going to come to Forks any time soon."

Yes, Forks. Godforsaken backwater where you heard things through so-and-so's mother's friend, who heard it from their sister's daughter's playmate's mom…God, small-town relations were enough to make me want to scream. Couldn't we go live in some big city for once where people didn't constantly live in each other's pockets?

"What's she look like, Alice?" I asked casually. Pretty, or not? Or more importantly, would she draw attention away from _me_? I'm gorgeous, and I know it, but it's all I have. My greatest fear; if Emmett ever decided to leave me, or fell in love with somebody else, I would have nothing. If anything happened to him –

My hand crept up his thigh under the table, and he drew in a sharp breath as his gaze met mine with adoration, eyebrows raised. I shrugged, a smile playing about my lips. He was so damn hot, and he was _mine_.

"Rosalie, I'm not going to waste my time looking into the future of some girl I've never met and honestly couldn't care less about just so you can judge her by her appearance already," my sister snapped.

"Yeah, well. I was just thinking that Edward's probably going to have to sit next to her in some class or other, seeing as he's always a _loner_," I let my lips twist upwards into a sneer, was satisfied when Emmett's eyes locked to them with desire plain in his topaz gaze, "and you never know; it might just prove too tempting for him. After all, he's hardly used to being close to girls." Something like irritation flared in my brother's glare, but I ignored him.

"You're being ridiculous, Rosalie," Edward retorted. "Why would I kill someone I don't know, when there are so many people who irritate me and I haven't killed any of them?"

"Cough _Jessica _cough," Emmett snickered.

"For God's sake, you two –" Alice begun, but I stood up abruptly.

"Got to go. Don't want to be _late._" Emmett followed me quickly, one hand resting lightly on my butt before I slapped it away. "Because the canteen's _so_ much better than the parking lot," I told him sarcastically.

"I love you, Rose," he laughed. "And that was a really nice thing you did for that burger girl."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied haughtily.

**A/N: My Rosalie…so. Love her? Hate her? Let me know please!**


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